Generation of Fire
by Celeris
Summary: What happens when all the Naruto characters settle down and make families? And how will the kids act? NaruHina, SasuSaku, ShikaTem, NejiTen, InoSai, KonoHana, AsuKure, KakaAnko...did i leave anyone out?
1. An Uzamaki and an Uchiha

And so starts my first fanfiction. I hope this goes over well. This story started as many of my usual ideas do, random thoughts mulling bout in my head battling to be thought about. The one that popped into my cranium just happened to be, if i were to be a ninja in the Naruto series what who would i be? And thus the idea for this story started. Who i would want to be will be revealed pretty much towards the end of the fic. I had originally planned this out to be 7 chapters, but looking at my outline for this, it may be more...great I'm rambling...On to the fic!!

I do not own Naruto (though I wish I owned Hinata or Temari...uh...nevermind)

--

Chp. 1 - An Uzamaki and an Uchiha

"Dang it! I'm late...Konohamaru-sensei, please tell my mom to stop fixing my hair!"

--

"Ok, I'll be assigning teams now," a man with a scar over his nose and just starting to get grays in his hair announced to a large room full of preteens.

"First, Team 3..." three kids walked up to the front and took a piece of paper that the aging Iruka was holding, then sat back down. "Next, Team 9...," a couple more teams were called and came up until...

"AAAHHHH!!!!!" the door to the class room slammed open, "Sorry Iruka-sensei, my mom...uh, never mind."

"Yue, just sit down...oh, uh, since you haven't been to the academy very much because of your private tutor, just sit anywhere."

"Hai!"

Yue searched the room and saw an empty seat near the top of the lecture hall. He adjusted his headband

"Ok, and last but certainly not least...Team 13 will consist of Raimaru Nara, Yue Uzamaki, and Nadeshiko Uchiha."

_I wonder who that is?_ Yue thought to himself. As he walked down the stairs to find out where to meet his new Sensei, Yue bumped into a girl just getting up to walk down the stairs. Both fell down and landed in a pile at the bottom, each face no more than an inch away from the other.

"Oww...uhh...sorr-" Yue looked up and saw a beautiful sight. The girl on top of him had beautiful emerald eyes and light pink hair with blackish blue streaks that made it look like it was in shadow all the time. And to top it all off, she was decked out in gothy black vest and skirt with shorts underneath, plus a sexy red tank.

"Uh, H-h-hi….I-I am Y-yue…." His face turned slightly red.

The female face blushed slightly in return. "Oh, I'm Nade-...GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY BREASTS YOU PERVERT!"

--

Nadeshiko was pissed. She had gotten in another fight with her mom that morning over how she dressed. Her mom always nagged her about how the smartest kunoichi in the Academy shouldn't look like a punk.

Thankfully her father stepped in. "Sakura, everybody has an angsty period when they grow up, just leave her be. You do remember what I was like way back when."

"Fine, Nade you can wear it, just wear some shorts under the skirt so no one will see anything if you go jumping through trees." And thus, Nade won again. And as always, she thanked her dad for his help. But she was still not happy, today they were being assigned into the typical three-man cells plus a sensei. Since she was the most skilled kid in the academy, and graduated quickly she didn't really make many friends, and thus didn't really know anybody in the graduating class. Which was why she was pissed. She was about to be stuck with two other kids her age, both probably guys that she didn't even know, until sometime after she would become a jounin. It was not a very assuring prospect.

Thus she brooded, hands folded in much the same manner as her father, sitting in the lecture hall as the names were being called. There was one late comer, but in her broodyness she didn't notice him. When she finally heard her name called, she remembered some of the conversations she overheard her parents having about the Sixth Hokage and the name Uzamaki. She wondered who this Uzamaki was, and whether he lived up to the image of the Hokage.

She got up and stepped out into the aisle…..and she found herself falling down.

When she stopped she looked down and looked straight into a pair of white eyes. Sure she had seen white eyes before, there was the one girl she knew during her entire time at the academy, Nanami Hyuuga. Both her dad and Nanami's dad worked on the same ANBU squad and they played together whenever their families got together.

But for some reason these new white eyes were different. Was it the slight tint of blue (or was it red?) in the eye rather than the normal hint of lavender? She didn't realize she was staring until this boy said something.

"Oww...uhh...sorr-...uh, h-h-hi...I-I am Y-yue..."

Yue? The Yue Uzamaki she heard called out? This was intriguing….

"Oh, I'm Nade-"

Then she felt a slight squeezing sensation in the protrusions on her chest.

"GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY BREASTS YOU PERVERT!"

Now she was pissed again, and the moment was gone.

--

"I would, except your breasts seem to be pinning my hands in place while you still lay on top of me."

Nade jumped up. "Next time watch where you're going, BAKA!"

"I was. You just randomly got out of your seat as I was walking by...uh...BILLBOARD-BROW!" Yue just seemed to notice the slightly large forehead on the emerald-eyed girl. And with that Nade got even more pissed.

The two new teammates continued arguing while a quiet boy in a long black cloak came up and got the paper. He then turned to the two quarrelers and stood waiting.

"What a drag." The cloaked boy with short black hair and circles around his eyes sighed. He shifted in his cloak and brought out a giant fan, leveling it in between Yue and Nade. "If you want to know where our sensei will be here it is." The paper in his hand floated up and onto the end of the fan, between the now quiet Yue and Nade. "And by the way I'm Rai, Raiken Nara." With that Rai flipped the fan back into his hand and concealed it once again in his cloak, then promptly left the room.

Both Yue and Nade stood there stunned for a second.

"Well, I'm going to go to the meeting place. See you later...Yue-teme!"

"Whatever, Billboard-brow!" called after Nade as she left the room.

Thankfully the majority of the other students had left at this point but the few that were left stared at Yue. One boy, a bit younger compared to the rest of the class with silver hair whispered to him, "Dude, did you seriously just grope the hottest girl in school?"

Yue didn't know what to say. He had only seen about 3/4ths of the class for the first time today. And he didn't even know half the names of the ones that he did see. How was he going to tell his cousin Nanami this? She'd probably just slap him like this Nadeshiko girl did right after she got off him.

_Was it just me or did Nade's slap hurt more than a normal slap should?_ Yue thought. He gingerly felt the hand shaped red mark on his cheek. _Yeah, it hurt worse._

Since Yue had done what he needed to do at the academy, he decided to leave. Remembering what time he had to meet his new sensei, he decided to go home for a bit before he went to the meeting place. Thus, he started walking towards the large building right under the Hokage faces, six in all.

--

"That darn idiot of a boy! He just had to go and make my day worse didn't he!"

Sakura peeked out the door of the kitchen of the Uchiha mansion to see a fuming chibi version of her heading towards the stairs.

"Nade dear, come here please." Sakura heard loud thumping as Nade headed back down the stairs. "Now, what is this about an idiot of a boy?"

Nadeshiko grumbled before responding. "He's my new teamate, and he put me in an embarassing situation in front of many of the graduating students at the academy!" Nadeshiko absentmeindedly took a sharpened implement from one of the two identical toddlers sitting in chairs by the counter. One of the two had a green left eye with a onyx right, and the other had an onyx left with a green right. "Obito, don't play with knives."

"So, who was this 'idiot boy' that...what was the embarassing situation?"

"I don't want to talk about it...and his name was Yue...Yue Uzamaki, I think."

Sakura dropped the dish she was washing into the sink and stood silent for a couple of seconds. Then she started snickering, then full out laughing.

"Mom, this isn't funny!" **_YEAH! It could ruin our reputation! Cha!_** Nadeshiko had never been very enthused that she had inherited the Haruno MPD. Inner Nade annoyed her most of the time rather than just voicing her inner emotions.

"Actually Nade-chan, it is….Yue's dad was your father and I's teammate back in the day and he got us into many embarrassing situations himself. Let me just say to expect it from the Uzamaki's…I just hope that Yue inherited some of his mother's restraint."

"Did I just hear someone say Uzamaki and embarrassing in the same sentence in here?" A very tall dark haired man in an ANBU mask stepped into the kitchen in full ANBU regalia carrying a squirming boy by the back of the shirt in each hand. "By the way, I found Tenma and Tenshi booby trapping their rooms again."

"Honey! Your home early!" Sakura ran over and unmasked the man revealing a very happy Sasuke. The two boys still held by the hands of their father made sick looking faces and tried to turn away from the parental smooching.

"Now what was this about an Uzamaki?" said a now very quizzical looking Sasuke.

"It seems, Sasuke-kun, that Nadeshiko-chan is teamed up with the son of our former teammate."

"Ah…then I only have one piece of advice for you Nade-chan…no matter how angry or embarrassed you are of him, an Uzamaki will always be the best kind of person to have as a friend…but there's nothing wrong with trying to correct the problem."

"You got that freaking right," Sakura said vehemently before walking over to was the rest of the dishes and feed the chibi Obito and Kakashi. Sasuke walked over to Sakura and started another, more parental conversation, all the while still holding the two squirming boys. Nadeshiko perceived that she was probably not going to be able to continue her conversation. She resumed her brooding look, and walked over to the fridge, opened it, grabbed a drink and proceeded back to the front door.

Just as she was about to walk out, she heard a small voice call out. "Onee-samaaaaaa! When you get back can you play with me?" Nadeshiko turned to see a pink haired four-year-old girl with onyx eyes giving her a hurt puppy look. _Just what is it with little kids and being able to do the Tragic no jutsu so well?_

"Don't worry, Yuri, I will."

--

"OTOU-SAN!!!!!!!!" Yue stood in the streets of Konoha looking up at a window. A few seconds after the outburst, the window was forcefully thrown open.

"WHAT, Mini-Me?! I'm kinda busy at the moment, go talk to your mom!"

"But Otou-saaaan!" The man with a rather large hat got a sort of defeated look on his face. "Hehe, fine. I'll try to get done as fast as I can, go to your mom and tell her what happened at the academy and I' be there as fast as I can, okay?"

"Woohoo!!!!" Yue ran down past a few houses on the street, bounding over the fence of a moderately sized house with a door open to the public. After landing in the yard, Yue crouched low and made as little sound as he could and snuck into the house. He got all the way to the kitchen, just a few inches away from a very large jar of cookies, when a voice echoed from the living room right next to the kitchen.

"If your going to have a cookie, eat an apple first." _Dang it, and I had suppressed my charka as much as I could too_. Yue with a defeated look similar to his father's walked into the living room. He promptly turned redfaced and did a 180 as he walked in.

"Okaa-san, do you have to do that now?" A rustling and the cries of two babies behind him clued him in that it was okay to turn around.

"Gomen Yue, but Gekko and Nikkou need to feed when they are still this young, and I haven't gotten them on the bottle yet. Anyway, what were you doing trying to get a cookie before dinner?"

"Darn Byakugan…mumble…grumble," Yue severly dislike his mother's constant use of her bloodline limit to keep track of him.

"I didn't use my Byakugan…I heard you yelling at your father before you even came into the house, how the house was too quiet about the time you would have arrived, and since you've been trying to steal them for the past week, it was fairly obvious what you were going to do." Hinata walked over to her now pouting son and patted him on the head, absentmindedly trying to correct his wild hair, but to no avail. "Now, tell me about the academy and how your assigning went."

"It went ok…I kinda pissed off…uh…I mean….angered one of my teammates after I fell on her trying to get to the front." Yue laughed nervously, using one of his hands to rube the back of his neck in a very familiar way.

"And who was this teammate you fell upon?" said a rather tenebrous voice right behind Yue. He slowly turned around to see a whiskered face smiling as if he knew exactly what his son was going to say.

"I think her name was Nadeshiko……Uchiha." At this point Naruto burst out laughing, and fell to the ground.

"You fell onto an Uchiha? And you're still living?! HAHAHAHAAHAAHahahahaha!"

"Dear, calm down." Naruto immediately sat up completely sober.

"Yes ma'am." Naruto's head drooped slightly.

Two infantile cries were heard in the next room. "Oh, umm, I'll be right back." Hinata left the room quickly.

"Ok, son, here's a bit of advice, Uzamakis and Uchihas, I believe, were destined to argue and be at each other's throats…but, they almost always work better when they are on a team together…which is why I placed you and Nadeshiko on the same team…along with someone who can keep the peace if need be. Now if I'm not mistaken, your meeting with your new sensei is rather soon, right?"

"Oh, crap! Bye, Otou-san!! Bye Okaa-san!" Yue rang frantically towards the front door, narrowly missing the wall beside it.

"Are you sure you should have placed them on the same team?" Hinata walked back into the living room carrying two, now ecstatic, bundles of Uzamaki pride.

"Of course, and if I have Yue and Nadeshiko pegged like I think, they might actually be the best rookie team of this year."

--

"Raimaru, make sure you come back tonight. Even if you're an insomniac like your uncle, you still need to be home at night."

Rai's head drooped a bit as he walked out the door. _Mothers are so troublesome_. Raimaru's thoughts were riddled enough with troublesome women that he failed to notice the one standing in front of him as he walked out the door.

"Hey Chibi, make sure you pass your final genin test." Raimaru glared at his older and insanely taller sister carrying a copy of the fan he carried. The blue eyes and four black braids stared back at him.

"I guess it would be troublesome to have mom fussing over me again…but aren't you supposed to be training with Inoki and Chosuke?"

"I have the day off…"

"…Because its too troublesome?"

"Just go and meet your sensei already"

--

As it just so happened, all three preteens met at the bottom of the stairs at the same time. Yue and Nade, after an initial glare, looked in opposite directions, refusing to look at each other. Thus, Rai sighed, and proceeded up the stairs to the top of the building where their new sensei awaits.

"Is it just me, or are there more bugs around here than in forest?" asked Yue as he passed and swatted away the third little group of flying critters on his way up the steps.

"Just hurry up, baka," Nade replied, swatting away her own small group of insects.

As they group of three reached the roof of the building, they saw that the entire roof swarmed with all kinds of insects. Yue stepped boldly forward, fully prepared to make a path through the bugs, but instead the bugs parted and started to disappear. After a few seconds, all the bugs were gone, revealing several potted plants and a bench. But what was most surprising was the rather odd looking man lying down on the bench. Who would wear a thick hooded jacket and high collared shirt in the middle of summer? The three walked cautiously toward the unknown person, and peered at his face. They couldn't really see anything thanks to the collar and sunglasses.

"I would appreciate it if you would stop staring at my face," said a seemingly disembodied voice, coming in the direction of the man on the bench. "Sit down already and tell me your names."

The skeptical preteens looked at each other for a second before Nadeshiko spoke up. "Umm, are you our new sensei?"

"Of course, I'm Shino Arubame." The hooded man sat up in the bench, leaned forward, and placed his hands together as if expecting an answer.

"Uh, well I'm Nadeshiko Uchiha…I just go by Nade."

"I'm Yue Uzamaki, believe it!"

"…Raimaru Nara…call me Rai."

Shino contemplated the three before him. _I am going to have a difficult time with this…I wonder how Kakashi did it with their parents? Oh well, at least Rai seems to be quiet._

"So are you three ready to become real ninja?"

--

(A/N) Ah, I'm evil with cliffys. And sorry about sheer amount of information in this chapter, I needed to set up the background info for the later chapters. And trust me, there will be more action in the later chapters. Also, I have no idea when my next post of a chapter will be. My three AP classes warranting, it might be within a month, but that's not a definite thing. Oh, well, if people like this story then ill post more.


	2. Sitting in a Tree

Ok, sorry for the one slip up in Raimaru's name (when he introduces himself to Yue and Nade). Oh well, at least I didn't do it more than once. Oh, kudos goes to KalliopeStarmist for being the creator of _Tragic no jutsu_. Go check her page for many amusing stories. (Tragic no jutsu came from her Village Hidden in the Lemon peels story)

On to the next chapter!

I don't own Naruto (though I think Hinata should)

--

Chapter 2: Sitting in a Tree

One of the bells was accidentally destroyed. Shino had administered the traditional bell test to see if they could really be genin. When time started, Yue and Nade immediately disappeared to hide, while Rai went over to a nearby tree and sat down. A large boomerang, several sharp implements of doom, and a few destructive jutsus flew by. And then the bell was destroyed. Rai, after commenting how troublesome the entire thing was, walked up to Yue and Nade, whacked them both on the head with his fan, and proceeded to lay out a plan to get the last remaining bell. In the end, Team 13 did become genin, and because of Rai, Nade an Yue set up a very uneasy truce. At least, while they were on missions.

It just so happened that several weeks and missions later, this truce was being tested. Team 13 had been assigned to watch a particular road for a group of bands, then ambush and possibly eliminate them. To get the best view and provide a good ambush for the green ninja, Shino had decided to have the group watch from the trees (and allow them more time to train with the tree walking ability). Shino, in his infinite and quiet wisdom, split the group in two so they could get a better view of the road. Needless to say, Shino chose Rai to be in a tree with him. Or as Shino had put it having the only other member of the team with good observational skills (being Yue with his Byakugan) be in the other tree with an offensive specialist with him (being Nade or Rai) for the ambush. Yue and Nade started to protest but upon seeing several bugs skitter across his face, which, in the several weeks they were with him, was the closest thing they could equate to Shino being angry.

So, going back to the main story, the truce between Yue and Nade was being strained. Being stuck in a tree with each other for several days didn't help either.

Yue, being the Uzamaki that he was, was thinking about random things for no real reason when a thought came into his head.

"Uh….Oi, Nade…why do you always wear black and red all the time?"

"Because, they are much better when one is hiding, unlike bright orange." Nade stared abjectly at Yue's bright orange pants. Yue blushed slightly, and tried to find a good comeback in his slightly flustered state.

"Well…Red's not much better." Yue turned his head in the patented Naruto pout.

"I can cover the red up easily with my vest, unlike your pants." Nade zipped up her vest. This started yet another uncomfortable silence that had occurred frequently over the past several days.

--

A few hours later, Yue had his giant boomerang out, tapping out a rhythm as he held it in his lap, while using his Byakugan to watch the road. Nadeshiko on the other hand had out a kodachi that her father had given her and was sharpening it.

"Would you mind not tapping? It's getting on my nerves." Yue pouted angrily, but stopped tapping.

"Your sharpening is much louder than my tapping."

"Well my sharpening unlike your tapping serves a purpose."

"What purpose? The things already as sharp as it can get."

"It's a form of meditation, dobe."

"Well, my tapping is a form of meditation too." Yet another pout.

"How is that a form of meditation?!?"

Several trees down the way, Rai, who had thankfully remembered to bring along his trusty magnetic chessboard, was playing Shino's bugs in a game of chess. Surprisingly, Shino's bugs were putting up a decent game, especially while Shino was sitting and reading a book. Shino sighed and laid down his Courting Rituals and Mating of Exotic Insects, Vol. 2. "When are those two going to figure out that being that loud everyday is the reason we're still out here?"

"I predict after tonight."

"Mmmm."

--

Nights like this, were the nights that Yue loved. It was the night of the full moon. It was a night when Yue could see his namesake in all its glory. And since he and Nade were sleeping separate watches, he wasn't going to be disturbed. At that thought he looked over at his teammate.

"Whoa." And that was all that he could say for the next several minutes. And, for some reason, he was again glad that the moon was out for he saw a breathtaking sight.

Nade was sleeping on the next branch over and her face, neither clouded from brooding nor scowling from anger, was illuminated by the moon.

"Kami, she's beautiful…" Yue stared at the moonlit maiden for a few more minutes, eyes taking in the perfect cheeks, the large forehead which didn't actually look that bad, and the luscious li…_Dang it! Why am I thinking like this? She hates me! And she annoys me! She looks good in the moonlight…Dang it, Yue get a hold of yourself!_

As Yue started to bang himself upside the head, he heard someone mumbling. As he turned, he saw it was Nadeshiko. Leaning closer, he could make out a few words. He sat back up thinking, then berated himself, then thought some more.

He soon noticed how close it was to the time he needed to wake up Nadeshiko and switch watches. Fidgeting a bit with some of the things in his many pants pockets, he decided with a plan of action.

--

Nadeshiko was confused. It did not bode well if an Uchiha was confused, but here she was.

Yue had just woken her up. There was none of the usual…(was it ticked off, was it annoyed?)...feeling in his voice. And he didn't add any kind of insult either, unlike the past few nights. He just woke her up with a slightly kind voice, smiled, and turned and promptly went to sleep.

_He was probably just sleepy. Yeah, that's probably what it was._ So Nade put it out of here mind and started her watch.

Several minutes passed as she did her now routine sweep of the area, and a few moe as she just let her eyes wander, as she thought of a few things. Finally done with her thinking, she realized where her eyes had finally landed.

"Whoa." Nade just sat there for a few minutes, wondering why the moonlight was so good that night. She also wondered if the moon was looking out for a little yellow haired sprite of the same name.

Yue had turned his face upwards in the few minutes that it had taken her to look around the area. He had a sort of peaceful look on his face, laying there like he had not a care in the world, which was kind of cute looking.

"No, not quite cute….but…handsome maybe?" The whiskers definitely added a cute factor but, in the moonlight, didn't quite stand out that much. One piece of unruly hair fell across his face, obscuring part of his nose. _Maybe, if I'm really careful I can move…No! You don't like him. He's a nasty little pervert who insulted your forehead!_

Nade quickly turned away, determined not to let thoughts like those plague her the rest of the night. Her view landed on the trunk of the tree.

"Huh?...What's this?" The trunk of the tree looked like it had had something carved into it. Peering closer she tried to decrypt the words.

"Hap…py…11…th…birth…OH!!" She sat back on her tree limb shocked. _I hadn't thought anyone outside my family remembered, much less knew, about today!_

_Maybe Yue is not as nasty as I originally thought…_

--

"Moon and Flower, ready to move in. Shall we proceed, Bugs?"

"Wait until Storm and I are on the ground. Then proceed."

--

Biggs, Pierce, and Wedge were just your typical mercenaries. Hire them, pay them, and then tell them what to do and they got it done. They had been in countless weird situations, even once escorting a brainwashed girl with strange powers to a very rural town, all the while in large mechanical suits. But for some reason, they always drew the line at fighting ninjas. Especially when the ninjas were just little kids. Say all you want about how mercenaries were scumbags, they didn't care, but there were some things that one just didn't do. This drew Biggs, Pierce, and Wedge to make a difficult decision after a strange series of events.

First, as the three were walking along, guarding a group of bandits that hired them, a spritely young lad with bright yellow hair, and some black highlights, jumped out in front of them. No sooner had this boy jumped out, when he miraculously pulled out a freaking huge boomerang and threw it, nearly decapitating the mercenary buddies. After the obvious threat, the mercenaries decided to toss aside their morals against killing kids, but then the second strange thing happened.

Seemingly out of the yellow kids shadow, a girl dressed in black with pink hair jumped from behind the yellow kid wielding a flaming short sword. After Pierce's jacket caught on fire, all three noticed the shiny metal headbands of the two kids. All three looked at each other, trying to make that difficult decision.

The unanimous verdict was to run. And run they did, until they turned around and saw what was going on with the bandits who hired them.

A short kid with black hair was wearing a large cloak which was billowing from a nonexistent breeze, creating a fairly large shadow underneath. The shadow however was not staying still as a normal shadow should. Instead it was connected to every single one of the bandits, and the black haired boys shadow seemed to be holding them into place. It was then that Biggs, Pierce and his smoldering jacket, and Wedge noticed all the bugs. The many thousands of bugs, all sitting upon the three's employers.

At this point Biggs, Pierce who had since discarded his jacket, and Wedge split up and ran in all random directions. They were not fighting little kid ninjas, nor were they going to be covered in bugs, and least of all, they were not going to get killed over a small paying job. Thus the last of the Akatsuki mercenary force ran off into the words with their tails between their legs.

Unfortunately, Biggs, Pierce, and Wedge never saw each other again.

--

Yue smiled as Shino-sensei waved a hand at the sentries of Konohagakure's west gate. He was finally home after a week of being stuck in a tree. The last half of the week though wasn't as bad as the first half had been though, as Nadeshiko hadn't gotten onto his case as often as she had earlier in the week. This left Yue confused.

_What did I do that made her stop being less mean?_ Yue pondered this quite a bit as team 13 was walking back to town. _It couldn't have been that…could it? It was just what anyone would have done right? I don't want her to think I like her…do I?_

As they walked inside the gates, Shino walked up in front of his students and stopped. "You have the rest of the day off," Shino said in his usual quiet manner, and jounin-bamfed away. The three genin shrugged and continued on their way.

That was until two of the three pairs of eyes spied an older girl walking in their direction. She wore a Chinese style white and blue fighting robe, had white eyes, and her hair was tied up into two buns.

"Nanami!" shouted two voices in the afternoon sun. The owners of the voices looked confusedly at each other.

"How do you know Nanami?"

"She's my cousin, Nade-baka." Nade, uncharacteristically, made a 'd'oh' face. "How do you know her?"

"Her dad and my dad are on the same ANBU team, Yue-teme."

"Now, now, Nade-chan, don't be using such language against my little cousin." The tall girl, only a couple years the arguers elder, had walked up in front the quarrelers.

"If he's your cousin, then how come I hadn't known about him or met him until I was put on a team with him?" Nade was becoming slightly irate. Her friend, and pretty much her only real friend, hadn't told her about the idiot of a boy that was related to her, much less warn her that Nade could have been grouped up with him.

"Well, Hinata-sama was sort of estranged from the Hyuugas for a long time for marrying Yue's dad." At this Yue hmpf'ed. "Hehe…well, at least up until he became the Hokage a year ago. Anyway, his family hadn't really been to the Hyuuga compound that often; especially not when your family came around with your dad."

"Strange though that Otou-san and Nadeshiko-san's parents were on a team together and we never met…I wonder why…My parents are too confusing anyway." Yue scratched the back of his head and sighed.

"Whatever, chibi. Hey, Nanami, could I talk to you about something…"

Yue just stood there.

"…Like girl things…" Nade eyed Yue with this comment.

Yue still stood there, even looking slightly expectant.

"…In private."

"Oh. Uh…bye, Nanami, Billboard-brow." Yue sent Nade a brief glare, then walked off in the direction of the sweet smell of heaven on earth, Ichiraku Ramen. He, however, forgot to dodge the thrown object aimed at his head.

"Anyway, as I was saying…what does it mean when a person acts idiotic and mean towards you one second, and then does something thoughtful and nice for you?" Nade asked quietly, avoiding eye contact.

Nanami narrowed her eyes at the pink haired semi-goth. Then her eyes widened and made a small glance in one direction.

"I think I know what this is about…" the slightly older girl said in an all-knowing type of voice.

"Nevermind…" growled Nade. She began to stiffly walk away.

"Ok, fine, don't tell me," Nanami shrugged. "Just listen to one small piece of advice…"

Nade turned around doubtfully.

"Never expect anyone to show their true emotions, because sometimes they don't even know what they are themselves." And with that she turned and walked in the direction of her cousin.

"Oh, and coincidentally, your father wants to see you at training field 7 after you get back." She then continued walking to the unfortunately short blonde. "Same for you, except field 13." And with that she jounin-bamfed away, even though she had only just become a chuunin. Ayame later remarked that she saw what looked like Nanami running down one of the adjacent streets fairly quickly.

The two who had just received the information provided by the strange girl, unbeknownst to them, were thinking the exact same thing: _Training grounds?...why would Otou-san?...Wait a minute!_

"CHUUNIN EXAMS!!!!"

--

(A/N) If anyone can spot the Final Fantasy reference they get a cookie. The next part of the story will probably have to be split up into multiple chapters, because I don't think anyone will like to read something that could quite possibly take up 15+ pages on MS word. As such, don't expect the next chapter any time soon, the only reason this was up quickly was that I had a fairly free week at school, and I had part of a long weekend to work on it. Fear not though, I have the next several parts of the story planned out so they will eventually be written and up loaded. I will try not to be like a majority of writers here on and never post anything new for over a year. Trust me, something will get written eventually.

Next time on Generation of Fire:

"Come students! To get there on time you must have the fire of YOUTH!"

"Oh, Kami, not again! How did dad ever put up with this?!?"


	3. KISSING, Part 1

Ok so now we come to the first of the multi chapter parts. I'm probably going to make this two chapters (maybe three but I doubt it), just because the thing that this section of the story deals with will be very long (namely the Chuunin exam, after all it did span 50 episodes in the anime, which is a long time for one part of a story).

Too bad no one got a cookie.

Anyway, after a long wait, here is…

--

Chapter 3: K-I-S-S-I-N-G, Part 1

"Dang it, I did NOT train into utter exhaustion, for six months, just to die in the freaking desert!!!!

Nadeshiko was pissed. Again. It had been a long time since she was pissed. Precisely 3 months ago, an atrocity happened that made her pissed. It truly took a lot to get her pissed. And it just so happened that what happened just those 3 months before was the worst.

A small group of boys, who she henceforth had named "The Pervert Squad", had gone on a panty raid…in her room. Nade never really liked going commando, especially when that certain time was coming around. All that really needs to be said is for a period of about 3 days, no one, not even the great Rokudai…wait no, he was probably more scared of PMSing girls than most…ah, here we go, that not even the sweet and innocent Yuri, Nadeshiko's little sister, would come out of her room. After that event, a blonde haired boy with black highlights, a platinum blonde haired boy, a silver haired boy, and two pink haired boys had the fear of (female) Kami put into them, especially since the aforementioned panties turned up dyed orange. And in the middle of town.

Anyway, the reason for Nade being pissed today was that she was not enjoying being overheated, especially since she didn't seem to have any clothing other than her usual dark colors. So here she was, sweating out the wazoo, and staining some of her favorite clothes.

The same thing could be said for many of the other genin of the Konoha caravan. 72 genin, plus the 23 jounin-sensei, and 2 more ninja of high importance were making their way across the desert towards Sunagakure for the biannual Chuunin exams. And only the most important two and a few of the jounin were allowed on the supply wagons. Well, Nade had to consider herself lucky, she was the only member on her team that didn't have one of their parents along.

"Temari-saaaan, when are we going to get there?" A tall man with a nice, big, shady hat, sitting on the wagon no less, was whining to his companion in one of the most recognized voices of Konoha.

"Naruto, stop whining. If you weren't the Hokage, I would be hitting you upside the head with my fan right now."

The three kids walking beside the head wagon snickered.

"Besides, there it is right there."

Several genin within earshot heard this, and immediately fell prostrate in the sand, praising Kami, until they realized that they were looking at what seemed to be a sheer cliff face. At that they stopped praising.

And then they soon resumed praising once they realized that there were sentries at one of the cracks in the cliff. Sentries with Suna uniforms that is.

--

The Konohan caravan was escorted into the villiage center of Suna, where they were to receive their official welcome. Of course, if one knows Naruto, it didn't really go as planned.

"Hey Gaara-nii-san! Long time no see!"

"…Naruto-nii-san…welcome to Suna." As Gaara spoke, a large group of girls near where the two Kages were meeting sighed and squealed.

"Hey, what's with the fan club?" Naruto whispered.

Gaara, rather expressively compared to his younger self, rolled his eyes and drooped his head, and finally buried his face in his hand. Kankuro, Gaara's official aid, answered for him.

"It's his unofficial fangirl posse, which started sometime after he became Kazekage, but some refer to it as his unofficial harem." Gaara, surprisingly, started to blush at this statement. Especially after a cry of "Gaara I love you! Marry me!" came from the most hyperactive of the group of girls.

"Kami, why does Amaya have to follow me everywhere?" Gaara mumbled as he hid his face in his hand, as the long haired girl with a raccoon on her head continued yelling.

Pretty soon another girl was shouting professions of love, albeit somewhat shyly. "And why does Matsuri have to emulate her?"

After much consoling and greeting the entirety of the Konoha convoy was accepted into the town of Suna. The Chuunin exams were about to begin.

--

Unfortunately, it seems that not all of the Konoha caravan had arrived.

"Come students! To get there on time you must have the fire of YOUTH!"

"Oh, Kami, not again! How did dad ever put up with this?!?"

Team 9 seems to not have stayed with the caravan. A team of 3 genin and a very…interestingly dressed sensei were still in the middle of the desert. The silver haired boy of the group looked very downcast in between his fellow teammates.

"Of all the people to get stuck with for sensei, why oh why did I get stuck with the clone of my father's obnoxious rival?"

"There, there" said a girl with a strange scar-like birth mark across her nose, "At least you have us Ankashi!"

"True, Kujira, true…" Ankashi quickly hid a devious and slightly lecherous look in his eye.

"I saw that you hentai!" yelled a short red-eyed girl, who, for some strange reason, resembled a monkey.

Ankashi sighed again, before seeing a large cliff in the distance. "A least it'll be over soon." The two girls returned inquisitive looks, not seeing what he saw. Ankashi at this point grabbed both their heads and turned them to the cliff.

"Oh…." Both girls looked up with brightened faces. That was until the scarred girl, who happened to be named Kujira Umino, started having a crestfallen look. "Oh well, looks like I won't be able to share the ramen I cooked up in my mom's place with my teammates." Ankashi and the other girl, by the name of Kemuri Sarutobi, cringed, both thinking the exact same thing. One does get sick from eating the same thing constantly (at least normal people), and having the daughter of the current owner of Ichiraku Ramen on one's team, one did eat a lot more ramen than usual.

Next thing Kujira knew, a silver-haired blur and a red-eyed blur flew past her, grabbed the man in a bright green leotard, and sped off to the cliff, all while the green man sputtered "Excellent my students!" while the two abductors yelled "Shut up, Lee-sensei!"

"Aww! Come on guys! It's not as bad as my last experiment!" And with that Kujira promptly ran after them.

--

Several days later, a very large group of ninjas, ranging in age from the young 10 of Ankashi to the venerably old of Norman the 97-year-old genin (To see more of Norman look for the incredibly old man in the test taking portion of the original series' chuunin exams.) were lounging around in a large room somewhere in the village of Suna. In various states of rest in one corner were what had been termed the 'Rookies' of the current Konoha generation. Team 9, Team 13 and what was known as Team Kiba (since they had lost their number somewhere) were all waiting to go into the little door at the end of the big room, where apparently the chuunin exam was given to each team one at a time.

"Dang it! When do we get to go?" whined a white-eyed, blonde haired ninja in their midst. The eight other ninja in the group groaned, and two phrases of "how troublesome," were uttered.

Shikami looked over at her little brother, "You know, he's on your team, why don't you do something about it?"

"I've tried, nothing works…and everything else is too troublesome." Raimaru paused for a second. "Well, maybe there's one way…" Without so much as a blink, Raimaru's shadow started to extend, passing under Yue. Shikami looked confused for a second until she saw the shadow starting to extend on the other side of Yue towards the other team member of Team 13.

"OWW!!!" (Smack). (Crack). Yue slumped forward in unconsciousness, revealing a large indention in the stone wall behind his head. Nadeshiko stomped away, slightly blushing, muttering something about getting a drink of water.

"Ah, the indirect approach…smart move…"

"And you wonder why I beat you at shogi all the time."

Soft clapping was heard behind the four black braids. "Dang, you brother just got you good."

"Shut up, Inoki…and Chosuke, stop looking at my bum," responded Shikami without even turning around. A rather rotund boy nervously turned his head while quickly stuffing potato chips into his mouth. Shikami then turned and walked to one of her and Rai's cousins, going past Chosuke. Raimaru was sure he heard something to the effect of "you'll get a better view later," which he believed was confirmed by Chosuke choking on his potato chips immediately afterward. Raimaru tucked that little piece of information away in the more sadistic part of his mind, to be used at a later date.

By this point Nadeshiko had returned from her seeking of water. Forcefully yet carefully she proded Yue awake. Once the blonde boy sat up clutching his head, Nade finally spoke, "We're going in soon, get ready."

--

After walking down a fairly dark hallway after they entered the door, the three members of Team 13 found themselves in a rather large room. The room was decorated with pillars and strange paintings and markings all along the walls. The entirety of the room was made up of sandy colored rectangular stones. A doorway stood at the end of the room.

"Alright, the guys at the door said all we needed to do was to go down the passage to the exam proctor," said a very skeptical Nadeshiko.

"Sweet! Piece of cake!" Yue proceeded to run towards the doorway, and he might have made it if not ten feet from where he started, he tripped on a stone that sunk beneath his feet. Thankfully, had he not tripped, he would have been impaled by a 6 foot high spike that came out right in front of his nose.

"…so that's why…" a rather amused looking Rai said. "We have to avoid all the traps they placed in the way to get to the proctor." A rumble was heard. A slab started to fall down on the doorway very slowly, and dust fell from a slowly sinking ceiling. "And we have a time limit…"

"And again I say, piece of cake! Byakugan!" The blonde started walking forward very erratically. "Come on guys, follow my steps." The three Genin made it to the doorway at the opposite end with half the door to spare. They continued walking down the dark hallway, with Yue scanning with his Byakugan.

"Ok…this is weird. The floor ceiling and walls just changed into…some sort of metal plating…but I don't see any traps within the radius of my vision." As soon as all three stepped on the new floor an audible click was heard. "So maybe I was wrong…but there still isn't anything."

The genin walked forward until they started to hear sounds of metal sliding against metal.

(shink, shink-shink, shink) "Ok, yeah, now I'm seeing something. Lots of metal blades swinging in are path." No sooner had he said this than Nade and Rai saw what he was talking about. Large blades the size of hallway itself were seen slicing the hallway about every foot for a long stretch. "Crap, how are we supposed to get through this?!"

Raimaru, silently watched the blades, but soon slumped his shoulders muttering, "what a drag." Seeing the reactions of her teammates, Nadeshiko giggled.

"You guys really can't get by this can you?" With that, Nade walked up towards the blades and paused. And with a startled cry from Yue, she started walking, and walking, and still she walked, until she reached the end of the blade section. Smirking, she turned back to her teammates, red-eyes full of mirth staring back at them. "Piece of cake."

Yue promptly responded by sticking out his tongue.

Nade rolled her now regular emerald green eyes, pulled out a kunai, and slammed it into the wall. All the blades stopped. As Yue was picking his jaw up off the floor Rai and Nade started down the rest of the hallway.

"Hey! Get back here…how did you know that the main gears were there? You don't have the Byakugan so how could you know?" gasped Yue as he caught up.

"I have ears, baka." And so Yue sulked until they got to the next room.

This room did not look normal like the last one did. The room was filled in a maze like structure, with various obvious motion detection devices attached to moving pillars. Evidently, the room was supposed to resemble a heavily guarded building. Yue looked around for the door to continue. "Ooo! Ooo! There it is!"

_Too easy_. Raimaru looked around anxiously, knowing that there had to be a trick to this room. And there it was, at one end of the room there, on a pedestal, was a key. At the end opposite the key, was an identical pedestal, but no key. _Hmmm…_.

As luck would have it, the question that Raimaru was going to voice was answered before he even asked. Nadeshiko, tired of Yue's antics, pushed him down into the maze, right in front of one of the moving pillars. Immediately an alarm went off. Raimaru quickly looked up at the key, but it was not where he had seen it before. Narrowing his eyes, Rai looked at the opposite side of the room. Sure enough, on the opposite pedestal the key sat. Aaaahhh…

"When I give the signal, Nade, since you're the fastest, get the key. Yue you head for the door and wait for Nade to throw you the key."

"But…" the other two protested.

"Just do it."

Raimaru walked onto one of the wall of the maze, making sure to not trigger the motionless sensors on the tops of the walls, and started to rapidly make handsigns.

"Shadow Imitation Jutsu: Blackout!" Much like the Nara's regular shadow jutsu, Raimaru's shadow started to expand, but this time in all directions. The room went completely dark. "Now!"

Suddenly, as if a small light had turned on, Yue and Nade could see, if only barely. Nade raced over to the key, picked it up and threw it. Just as she threw it, she saw that the shadows were receding, and where the light had come from. Raimaru's eyes were glowing slightly blue before they slowly eased back into the dark blue of his regularly colored eyes. Something about the whole thing made Nadeshiko shudder as she watched the shadows recede, almost like tentacles, back under Rai's cloak.

"Hey, its open!"

--

The proctor looked down at his watch. 5:37. One of the fastest times so far, and they managed to bypass or disable all the traps. He looked back up to the three nervous kids standing in front of him.

"Well, you pass the first section of the exam."

"WooHOO!!!!! Oh yea—wait what? First section?"

"Yes you have two more sections of the exam to take…well, that is if you can pass them."

"Stop toying with us Uncle, and point us to where the next section is."

Kankuro chuckled. "Of course. Since you've been so nice as to keep my traps intact, I'll even give you some advice. Beware the second section's proctor." With that, Kankuro chuckled even more, pointing to a door to the side of his TV screen filled table.

--

_This has got to be the most embarrassing moment of my entire preteen life_.

Raimaru remembered some of the stories Ankashi had told about Anko, but he was pretty sure Ankashi's mom had never done anything like this.

Yes, Raimaru's mom, the second proctor, was currently cuddling him as if he had just come back from the brink of death. Speaking of death, Rai borrow his favorite uncle's patented death glare and swept the entire crowd. Yes, the entirety of the genin of the shinobi nations who passed the first exam stood watching the mother and son with a rainbow of emotions plastered on their faces. Raimaru's gaze fell upon one ninja in particular. _How did Shikami not get attacked by Mom?_

After several more moments of embarrassment and strangulation, Temari finally let go and proceeded to the front of the assembled genin.

"Ok my little sacrifi—I mean future chuunin! It is time for you to take the second portion of the chuunin exam! Where you'll be taking it is directly behind me..."

As she spoke an ominous noise came from one of the several cave mouths in the cliff face behind her. The noise could be interpreted as a blood curdling scream, a howl of some unknown creature, a moan from some supernatural phenomenon, or some combination of the three. Most of the genin cringed.

"Hehehe. Now that you got a taste of what's to come, I'll explain the rules for this part of the test." (At this point Temari goes into an explaination very similar to Anko's from the original story's chuunin exam, and seeing as how long and involved that whole explaination is, and how probably all of you that are currently reading this fic have already read it an know what it implies, I'll just skip it.)

"Umm…scary lady…has anyone died in there before?" some skittish boy from grass asked. Some snickering was heard from Raimaru and Shikami.

"Hmpf. Of course someone has." replied a heavily set bare-chested nin from the mist, with a huge sword strapped to his back. Right after he said this, two masked girls (at least from what Rai, Yue and Nade could tell) smacked him in the back of the head.

"Alright, now that the pointless questions are over, head into the tents one team at a time and get your scrolls and what cave entrance you'll be using."

The genin started shuffling towards the various tents. Nade and Yue decided now was the time to pick on Rai for being embarrassed in front of the entire group of ninja. However, before either one was able to open their mouths, they found them being forcefully kept closed by a sliver of shadow.

"Just keep walking."

--

It had been three days since they entered. They had been able to obtain their needed scroll easily from the team of the skittish grass nin who had stumbled upon team 13 while they were taking a break next to an underground river. So Nadeshiko, assuming leadership of the team decided that they would rest beside the river before they went in search of the crystal cave in the middle of the underground caverns (Rai and Yue deferred quickly as they had learned earlier that Nadeshiko had inherited her mother's extreme strength and could utilize it very well throughout her entire body. As such, they were very scared of what they termed "The Flick of DOOM."). Rai and Yue assumed that Nade wanted to clean herself after three days of no bathing and they especially did not want to anger the girl.

Rai and Yue had assumed correctly when they saw Nade grab some things out of her pack and walk towards a secluded spot of the river. Rai then happily got out his trusty magnetic chess board and challenged Yue to a game, which was promptly finished in fewer than 20 moves.

"Man, I can't believe we haven't come across any ninjas other than that grass team. I was pretty sure 30 teams were sent in here…You don't think a lot of them are dead do you?" Yue asked Rai, lying quietly against a rock in his sleeping bag.

"Well, seeing as three days have past since the second exam started, I'd say that half the teams that were able to finish have. Because this exam works the way it does, and since we had about 30 teams start, there is a maximum of 15 teams that are able to finish. Finally, since the caves are rather tricky to find someone in, I would think no more that 10 teams would make it to the crystal cave. So, about 5 teams have already finished."

"O….K…I'll take your word for it…you seem to be much better at math than me."

Rai rolled his midnight eyes.

"So I wonder what some of the other teams are doing…especially those who had their scrolls taken."

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" The very feminine shriek came from the direction of the river.

"Does that answer your question?"

"That sounded like Nade! We need to go help her!" Yue started to caterpillar his way towards the river in his sleeping bag. He traveled about 10 feet before he realized he was traveling much more slowly that normal.

"Can you be any more like your dad?"

--

Thankfully when they reached Nade, they found that she at least had the decency to wear her shorts and tank while she washed. What they weren't thankful for though was the ice that encased her hands and lower legs. And the two masked girls and the bare-chested boy standing over her. For some reason, Yue thought this was going to be a bad day.

"Hey get away from her!"

"And why would we do that?" said the large boy. The boy was promptly jabbed in the ribs by one of the girls (yes it was confirmed now) who had just taken off her mask.

"Same, we're supposed to bargain with them for one of their scrolls!" the jabber spoke in a very feminine voice.

"Yeah, and you're the leader, so get bargaining." Ok, so only one of the masked pair was a girl, but the guy sure as hell looked like a girl.

"Be quiet Hakami, and I know what I'm supposed to do Kukami. So, hand over your scroll and I'll give back the girl."

Yue didn't much like the bargain, so he charged. And then he stopped as the large blade that Same had was currently poised at Nade's neck. _Dang, how did he move that huge thing that fast?_ Yue's thinking was cut short when the masked duo started to further encase Nade's legs in ice with some jutsu. The ice looked kind of funny, darker and more metallic looking that normal. The ground underneath Nade's legs cracked a bit from the weight.

"Fine." Yue looked incredulously over at Rai, who drew a scroll out from his cloak. "Here take it." He threw the scroll over to the large genin.

"Kukuku, and it's the right one too. Thanks kids!" Same started to walk away. "Oh and to just make sure that you don't follow us to get this back…" He took he large booted foot and kick Nadeshiko out over the river water, and then promptly disappeared with his two friends.

For Yue all time slowed as he watched Nade fall into the river, the heavy ice dragging her under. "HELP!"

"NADE!!!"

--

A/N: ooo, evil cliffy. So yeah, sorry that this took so long, I got hooked on some anime on youtube for a few weeks. To my other friends who read this…do not worry your cameo will come.

OK, so no one got a cookie the last opportunity (the correct answer to the final fantasy reference was Pierce, Biggs and Wedge). This means a new cookie opportunity shall commence. Who can name the inspiration that became the plot to this story (its fairly obvious if you have been paying attention) (and for those friends of mine who already know…you aren't eligible for the cookie)

And come on people, I know you read this fic…so Review dang it! I would like to know what others think of my writing.


	4. KISSING, Part 2

Dang, I haven't updated in awhile, and when I left it at a cliffy too……(hides from cliffy haters). Sorry, but I had too many ideas for fanfics running around my head and I needed to get them out (go look at my profile, I posted two other fanfics since I updated this last to prove my point). And then graduation mess started, and then AP crap, so yeah, sorry for the really long wait. School will be done in a few weeks so, hopefully, I will be able to get chapters out faster (and get the fic ideas out of my head too).

Anyway, enough with the useless ranting, on with the chapter!

--

Chp. 4: K-I-S-S-I-N-G, Part 2

Rai had once again been awed by the stupidity of man. Ninja's of apparently the same level of aptitude as him and his fellow teammates had just fallen for what Rai was sure was the oldest trick in the book (seriously, Rai read the book, and it was the oldest trick a ninja pulled on another). Making something look like something else, one of the simplest things a ninja could do, and one of the major skills tested on by the academy to see if students were ready to become ninja by way of the Henge jutsu. Currently, Rai had played this trick on the Mist nins that he and Yue had just encountered. Instead of giving them one of the two that he and his friends had managed to obtain in the labyrinth of caves, he grabbed a can of old beans. Performing a simple and hastily made genjutsu on the can, he made it look just like one of the two scrolls they already had. This brought Rai back to his current state of awe. How did those Mist nin not see that it was just an illusion? Rai wouldn't be able to ponder this for long however, for a yell broke him out of his trance.

"NADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Crap. Rai ran over to Yue trying to see if he could help his friend with a plan. But soon he found all he could do was watch with anxiety, and later, amusement.

--

Yue couldn't think. He wouldn't think. The only thing that was going through his head was Nade's pink hair sinked beneath the water of the large underground river. He barely registered Rai's footfalls as Rai came walking up to him. Before Rai could say anything though, Yue's body started reacting on its own. A slow step forward, the another slightly larger stride, then another and another, picking up speed until he ran right to the bank of the torrent. And dived.

The back of his mind knew that Nade wouldn't be in the general vicinity of where she went in due to the current of the river, but Yue still looked frantically around. Frustrated by the slight murkyness of the water, he charged his eyes with chakra, bringing forth his bloodline limit without having to use signs like he usually did. Full spherical vision soon greeted him with a radius of a good 50 meters. Soon he saw the large chunk of ice and his friend stuck inside it. He swam frantically in that direction and soon came upon the cold obtrusion in the river. Swimming around to face Nade, he found a pair of emerald green eyes staring at him as if trying to convey a message. Taking it to mean 'get me out of here' he grabbed a kunai from his pouch and started hacking away at the ice. Unbeknownst to him, the emerald orbs rolled within the pink framed face.

--

_How could he be so stupid?_ Nadeshiko was looking down at Yue frantically chipping away at the ice that held her. And he didn't even realize that they were both running out of air. _Baka Yue._

However, about a minute later, Yue found he really needed to take a breath. Without even looking at Nade, he kicked off the bottom and went straight to the surface. If Nade lived long enough, she would kill him. Probably by drowning. And then she would find some old healing technique her mom hadn't taught her yet and bring him back to life (if he ended up saving her) and hug him……wait, did she just think of performing some form of affectionate action towards the annoying and stupid Yue?...nah.

And that was when Yue returned. The look on his face puzzled Nade for a second. He looked as if he were contemplating something, but finally turned and looked her straight in the eyes. It seemed to Nade that Yue had finally figured out that Nade was having trouble keeping her breath held (the frantic struggling might suggest that), but what Nade couldn't figure out was what Yue was contemplating doing about it doing about it.

And then it happened. With both hands he grabbed the sides of her face, pulled up to her, and brought his lips to hers. Nade's eyes went wide.

He kissed her.

He KISSED her.

HE kissed HER.

At that point, before Nade could explode in seething passion…..wait, what?...no, rage. Definitely rage. Before she could explode in rage, the little voice of logic in the back of her brain, which sounded strangely like her dad, informed her that Yue was forcing air into her mouth. This she gulped down greedily. Yue then let go and kicked off again. After a few seconds he swam back into Nade's field of vision.

And he did it again.

This time Nade was prepared. She knew he was only doing this to give her air, and not to claim his place as king of 'the pervert squad.' _He's still gonna getting knocked upside the head if we get out of this alive! Shannaro!_ fumed Inner Nade. Nade herself couldn't agree more.

After this last breath, Yue started doing something. Instead of picking away at the ice with a kunai like he had been doing, he instead held his hand out, and screwed up his face in more concentration than Nade had ever seen in his face. Slowly, the water just above his hand started to swirl in all directions and coalesce into a tight ball. And within that ball, Nade could see visible chakra. Her eyes started to itch. She saw parts of the ball wobble and then straighten back up. She also thought she could see inside the ball and stare in wonder at all the little changes in direction that the chakra made inside it. Finally the look of semi-constipated concentration relaxed from Yue's face as Nade saw that the ball of chakra had finally stabilized. With a foxy grin, Yue shoved that little ball of chakra into the ice surrounding Nade. Nade would have been very impressed if the ball had remained stable as it crashed into the ice, but even as it destabilized after impact, it still go the job done. The majority of the ice surrounding shattered and what was left Nade could easily break through.

A hand grabbed her as she crawled up the edge of the bank. As she sat there gasping for her life, she barely heard the familiar voice above her.

"Nice to see that the both of you are still alive." Sitting on a rock a few feet away from where she and Yue pulled themselves out of the river, was Rai. And he was looking bored.

"You know, you could at least look as if you were worried about us," grumbled Nade, attempting to wring water out of the various part of her clothing.

"Yeah, especially after you gave those guys one of our only two scroll," Yue flopped into a sitting position glaring at Rai.

Rai pulled out the two scrolls from their hiding places in his clothes. "What? You mean these?" Emerald and pearl eyes stared at him, dumbfounded

--

They arrived at the crystal cave with a day and a half to spare. Thankful, they took this time to rest and tend to their injuries. Finally, when the 5 day time period was up, they were called to the middle of the crystal cave, where several statues carved out of the crystal and a large display screen were set into the wall beside a large flat area, surrounded by several raised, platform-like crystal outcroppings. In short, it looked like an arena. Taking a place on one of the outcroppings, Team 13 took stock of all the other teams that made it to the third exam.

The other two rookie teams from Leaf had made it. Nade waved to Kujira and Kemuri, and strangely enough, Inoki waved back at her to which he received a whack on the back of the head by Shikami. The team from the Mist was also there and the large boy Same was glaring at them, no doubt angry over being tricked by Rai. Some strange, yet average looking, group from grass was there (upon closer inspection it seemed to be the same group that Team 13 got their other scroll from, the one with the snivelly grass nin). The only other team, and the only other ones they didn't know was a team from Suna.

The only thing the Suna team seemed to have in common was that they all wore a raccoon tail on their belts and they were all girls. Other than that they all looked completely different. One was really tall, another really short. The short one had and extremely crazy grin on her faced that skeezed Nade out and was twitching occasionally. The moderately sized one was sleeping standing up. The tall one was staring at all the various crystals around her, staring longer at those that reflected light. The short one had blue hair, the middle one had black hair, and the tall one had white hair. And they were all wearing different styles of clothing.

Unfortunately the observation time was cut short as a Slightly short woman with a long braid and a live raccoon on her head walked out into the middle of the arena area from the group of officials standing near the wall. Nade and Yue remembered her from the day that the Konoha caravan arrived at Suna.

"Alright, my little chilluns, I am the proctor for the third section of the Chuunin exam, Amaya. The third section will consist of a one on one tournament style battle. Only those that have not yet become chuunin can participate, so those of you who only participated to complete a team, you can leave now." The two masked nin of the Mist team, Kukami and Hakami, disappeared in puffs of smoke. "Ok, now that that's settled, today we are only completing round one of the tournament, the prelims, so seeing as there are…16 of you now, there will be 8 matches. The matches will be randomly picked, so watch for you name on the screen and come down here when your name appears." Amaya quickly spun around, almost dislodging the raccoon on her head, and watched the display screen. It began to randomly scroll through names.

**Nadeshiko Uchiha vs. Same Zanza**.

After a short pause, Nade laughed and grinned wildly. "Perfect."

It seemed kind of unfair for those watching that didn't know the girl well. A large burly guy with a giant meat cleaver fighting a small pink haired girl who wielded a kodachi seemed entirely one sided. Those who did know her well, being only her teammates and sensei, just sat back and waited for what they knew was going to happen.

"Time to beat you again little girl," Same taunted.

Nade just raised her eyebrow and looked at Amaya. Amaya shrugged and signaled for the match to start. And it did, in typical form with Same charging at Nade swinging his sword to cleave Nade in twain.

And Nade just stood there, until the last possible second. In the blink of an eye, the kodachi was out, flaming, and blocking Same's swing. Large cracks formed in the floor where Nade's feet were, but she shook not a millimeter. Same blinked.

"Seriously, is this as strong as you are?"

"How the hell did you block that so easily?!?!?!?"

"Simple," Nade disappeared, "like this." She reappeared right in front of Same, finger tucked back in her palm for a flick, right in front of his forehead. Rai and Yue cringed.

-flick- -kaBOOM-

Same fell, unconscious, from the man shaped hole in the wall behind him.

"Winner, Nadeshiko Uchiha."

"Hehehehe," the crazy looking Sand girl laughed, staring at Nade, "crazy strong girl!"

Again, Nade looked skeezed out, but turned to look at the display as it churned out the next two victims.

**Inoki Yamanaka vs. Sabaku no Toppyoushimonai**.

"What the heck kinda name is that?" Yue asked aloud. "And why is it so long?"

And then they saw why. Standing across from Inoki was the crazy Sand girl. This time they took a closer look at her. She wore the traditional black baggy pants of Suna and her headband around her neck. But what stood out the most of her wardrobe was her shirt. She was wearing a straightjacket. And its sleeves weren't tied.

"Yay! Toppy gets to play with boy today!" Toppy, as she called herself, clapped together her hands in the massive sleeves and bounced back and forth on her feet.

Inoki just looked extremely confused. Apparently he took after his dad more than his mom in social situations. And the match began.

Even with an army of ink-painting jutsu creatures and the mind-effecting jutsu of the Yamanaka clan, Inoki just could not win. A giant sand claw produced from her sleeves took out all of the ink creatures Inoki created, and the no doubt unstable mind of the Sand girl rendered her immune to the majority of Inoki's mind attacks. Needless to say, Toppy won.

During the match, though, Nade's eyes started to itch and burn again.

"Dang it! This is even worse than when I first got my Sharingan!"

Suddenly, Nade's sight went dark. Then slowly, images in black and white started to appear in flashes. Nade could make out one image of two people standing in the arena below her, both shrouded in lightning. In another flash, she saw the screen where the names appeared rotate through several names. The final flash showed the names Raimaru Nara and Ankashi Hatake on the board. Finally Nade's vision cleared and returned to the real world, and she was startled to find Shikami finishing her match with Chosuke. Just how long had she been seeing things?

"Oi, oi, Nade? You ok? Your eyes went kinda freaky there a minute, like the sharingan but instead of the crimson, your eyes stayed the regular emerald…" Yue was looking at her, and even placed a hand on her forehead.

"I…I don't know. I just saw some random images." She looked over at Rai who was leaning nonchalantly against the wall. "I saw your name up on the board with Ankashi as your opponent."

Rai's eyebrows peaked. Three sets of eyes turned in unison to the display board. It was currently going through random names.

And then it stopped.

**Raimaru Nara vs. Ankashi Hatake**

Nade gulped.

"Well, that was freaky," Rai commented dryly as he sank into his shadow, only to reappear in the middle of the arena.

Yue just stared at Nade. "How the crap did you know that?!?"

"I don't know…"

Both teammates turned their eyes to the arena below. The match had just been called, and both genin were preparing their respective jutsu. But that would be all that Nade saw. In a flash of lightning, where she saw Rai and Ankashi wreathed in lightning, charging each other, her vision darkened again.

A panoramic shot of a large rocky and sandy stadium out in the daylit sky, full of spectators watching the ground below. Two figures standing a distance apart, facing each other, breathing heavily, a kodachi and large boomerang lodged in the earth between them. One, with pink hair and black highlights, looked truly haggard, with burns and cuts all over her clothes, but where they should have been on her skin, nothing. She was hastily pulling her gloves tighter on her hand. The other, feral looking, was enveloped in a red aura, silvery eyes taking on a red tone, strange wisker markings thickened, and claws twitching. He rose slowly from a crouch.

The leaf of a strange desert plant flitted slowly down between the two. As soon as it touched the ground, both figures charged forward. Time seemed to slow as the two got closer, fists brought closer and closer to the face of their opponent's face. And right when they were about to hit…

…Everything went truly black.

--

A/N: Dang this took a long time to get out. I had a hard time figuring out how I wanted the fighting to go. And then about a week or two ago, the idea for the ending popped up into my head. But don't worry, ill give you the full explanation next chapter (which I guarantee will not take as long as this one did to get out).

Thanks for reading! Please Review!


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